The British Isles are occupied by two nations: 1. United Kingdom - a union of: • • • •
England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland
2.Republic of Ireland The British Isles consists of the following islands: • Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) • Ireland (the Republic of Ireland) A country west of England across the Irish Sea (not part of the United Kingdom) • Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom) • The Orkney and Shetland Islands Islands off the northeast coast of Scotland • The Isle of Man An island in the Irish Sea • Hebrides (including the Inner Hebrides, Outer Hebrides and Small Isles) All are islands off the northwest coast of Scotland • The Isle of Wight An island off the southern coast of England • Isles of Scilly An island off the southwest coast of England • Lundy Island An island off the southwest coast of England • The Channel Islands A group of small islands in the English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. The principal islands of the group include Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark. • Plus many other offshore islands Great Britain is made up of: • England - The capital is London. • Scotland - The capital is Edinburgh . • Wales - The capital is Cardiff. The United Kingdom is made up of: • • • •
England - The capital is London. Scotland - The capital is Edinburgh . Wales - The capital is Cardiff. Northern Ireland - The capital is Belfast
People from all cultures and ethnicities can be found in every corner of Britain and each person in his or her own way has contributed to make Britain the place it is today. People moving to Britain have brought their own cultures and try to keep two cultures alive. An excellent example of this is the Notting Hill Carnival which is celebrates the Caribbean Culture and is now a very big part of the British life today. If you walk down a street in Britain, especially in the bigger cities you will usually see people with different hair, skin and eye colours. They may have white, brown or black skin and blonde, brown, black, or red hair, with blue, black, brown or green eyes. Many of the people you will see will be British people but they all look different because the people of Britain are a mixed race Britain is and has always been a mixed race society. Early in our history we were invaded by Romans, Saxons, Vikings and Normans armies and later Africans were brought to Britain by force in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as slaves or servants. Over the years, thousands of people have arrived in Britain as refugees from France, Ireland, Russia, and other countries, escaping from persecution or famine in their own countries. There are British people whose parents first came to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s from the Caribbean, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong and other places. Their homes are mainly in the big English cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester. About 8% of the population of Britain today are people from other cultures and ethnicities. That is 4.6 million people. According to a BBC Report in September 2005, immigration made up more than half of Britain's population growth from 1991 to 2001. Read more The Guardian newspaper reported in 2007 that the latest government estimate for long-term net immigration to the UK is 145 000 a year
Population by Ethnic Group, April 2001: Total Population
Minority ethnic population
Thousands
per cent
54,154
92.1
677
1.2
14.6
Indian
1,053
1.8
22.7
Pakistani
747
1.3
16.1
Bangladeshi
283
0.5
6.1
Other Asian
248
0.4
5.3
Black Caribbean
566
1.0
12.2
Black African
485
0.8
10.5
Black Other
98
0.2
2.1
Chinese
247
0.4
5.3
Other
231
0.4
5.0
All minority ethnic population
4,635
7.9
100
All population
58,789
100
White Mixed
per cent
Asian or Asian British
Black or Black British
Source: Census, Office for National Statistics
Over 250 languages are spoken in London, making the capital the most linguistically diverse city in the world. In a survey of 850,000 children in London schools the question about first language spoken at home was asked. The 40 most common languages spoken are Language
Approx total
Language
Approx total
English
608,500
Igbo (Nigeria)
1,900
Bengali & Silheti
40,400
French-based Creoles
1,800
Panjabi
29,800
Tagalog (Filipino
1,600
Gujerati
28,600
Kurdish
1,400
Hindi/Urdu
26,000
Polish
1,500
Turkish
15,600
Swahili
1,000
Arabic
11,000
Lingala (Congo)
1,000
English-based Creoles
10,700
Albanian
900
Yorubu (Nigeria)
10,400
Luganda (Uganda)
800
Somali
8,300
Ga (Ghana)
800
Cantonese
6,900
Tigrinya (Sudan)
800
Greek
6,300
German
800
Akan (Ashanti)
6,000
Japanese
800
Portuguese
6,000
Serbian/Croatian
700
French
5,600
Russian
700
Spanish
5,500
Hebrew
650
Tamil (Sri Lanka)
3,700
Korean
550
Farsi (Persian)
3,300
Pashto (Afghanistan)
450
Italian
2,500
Amharic (Ethiopia)
450
Vietnamese 2,400 Sinhala (Sri Lanka) Numbers have been rounded up or down to the nearest 50
450
Source website: Baker, P. and Eversley, J. (eds) (2000) Multilingual Capital, London: Battlebridge.
Canada - Toronto: A multicultural city: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xNWX8YcuII